Limping Lions figure things can only get better

by John E. Gibson (Apr 22, 2012)

From the start of the season, the Saitama Seibu Lions have been limping like they have thorns in all four paws.

Heading into Saturday's games, they had scored the fewest runs of
all 12 Japan Pro Baseball teams, their team batting average (.202) and
the team ERA (3.90)--worst in the Pacific League.

With those numbers, it's no wonder they look as if they've taken up permanent residence in the PL cellar.

Their subpar record is unbefitting of a team many pundits picked to
win the league title, but the players don't seem to be shaken.

"This kind of thing happens all the time during a season," slugger
Takeya Nakamura told The Daily Yomiuri on Friday before the Lions
blanked the Chiba Lotte Marines 1-0 at Chiba Marine Field.

"It's nothing but 15 games or so," added Nakamura, whose 49 homers and 116 RBIs were both tops in Japan last year.

Nakamura has just one longball so far, and Hiroyuki Nakajima--who
was posted in the offseason but returned to the club after failing to
reach an agreement with the New York Yankees--has one as well. In fact,
the team has just four.

The Lions finished third in the PL last season and advanced past the
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to reach the second stage of the PL Climax
Series.

The eventual Japan Series-winning Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks snuffed
them out in three games, but there were high hopes coming into the
season.

The Lions, though, just aren't clicking at the moment.

"You know what it is, it's when we pitch well, we don't hit; and
when we hit well, we give it up," said reliever Micheal Nakamura, who
moved to Saitama in the offseason after three mostly farm-based seasons
with the Yomiuri Giants.

"It's like I said, it's so early and this team--there's so much
talent," said Nakamura, the former closer who collected 102 saves over
four years with the Fighters.

First-year import Esteban German, who had a good spring but is
hitting .186 in 13 games, said it has to improve for the Lions because
things couldn't get worse.

"We've had a bad start. It has to change because we have a good
team," he said. "I see how hard these guys work and I know what they're
doing."

Despite the hard work, the wins haven't been coming, and frustration
seemed to hit a boiling point after a 3-2 loss to the Fighters on
Thursday.

The Lions had a one-run lead early, but blew a number of chances and
couldn't convert opportunities created by four Nippon Ham errors.

Skipper Hisanobu Watanabe called his big-hitting duo in the heart of
the order, saying, "We can't win if our third and fourth batters aren't
hitting."

Another one of Watanabe's biggest headaches is trying to help his
players manufacture runs, since the Lions aren't getting on base.

They are last in Japan in combined walks and hits with just 114. But no one is pointing fingers as the Lions plow ahead.

"The important thing is that we keep working hard together and keep playing," said No. 2 man Hideto Asamura.

"We haven't been able to hit with guys on base, and we aren't
getting that first run on the board. Those are the areas that I feel are
pushing things in the wrong direction.

"We're not playing all that badly and I think things will start to
turn around for us. We just have to stick together and trust in each
other."